Thursday, 27 December 2012

PoP Campaign - Maggie's Farmers

Single review by kev@thesoundofconfusion.co.uk

Forget any connection to the Bob Dylan song, the Maggie in question here is Thatcher and this new single from PoP Campaign is peppered with samples of her speeches. Being taken from an album called 'Britain Isn't Working' with cover art like that you can be fairly safe in assuming that they won't be voting Tory in the next general election. They're a slightly enigmatic duo, PoP Campaign; they go by the names Exclamation Mark and Anna Gram and many promo shots make good use of Photoshop. Their history reads like a tour of cities often heralded for their musical history. In their own words they were "Born in Glasgow. Hibernated in Berlin. Now lording it in Londres."

You can hear the electronic sounds of the legendary Berlin scene being used as an influence for definite, plus the indie ethic of the Glasgow underground. 'Maggie's Farmers' has no vocals except for Iron Lady stating all the great things she's supposedly did and how amazing Britain could be under the Conservative party. So lesson one is that she was hardly Nostradamus was she? These samples are played underneath a layer of retro electronica and Casio pop which is upbeat and sunny, almost like an electro remix of a kid's TV theme, all of which just goes to make those false predictions that little bit more sinister as she crows on about privatizing half of the country. Yeah, thanks.